The present invention relates to folding and bagging devices, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for folding newspapers and like articles and mechanically placing them in heat-sealable polymeric film bags.
In order to understand the background of the present invention some review of the evolution of newspaper delivery techniques might prove helpful. In early days newsboys sold newspapers on street corners or at newsstands. As a matter of convenience, newspaper publishers subsequently began to provide home delivery of newspapers. At the outset news carriers carried papers by hand or by bicycle to residential homes. It was customary for the news carriers to fold their papers prior to delivery and place 50-80 papers in conventional newspaper bags so that papers for a route could be carried at once and tossed for a short distance onto the porch of the customer. In inclement weather the news carriers had to be careful to place the newspapers on a covered porch or behind a door to prevent the paper from getting wet. Despite all their efforts, however, the newspapers of many subscribers still managed to get wet and were unreadable. Such instances caused complaints with the newspaper office and an expensive system of delivering replacement newspapers was necessary.
With the advent of polymeric films, in threatening or inclement weather news carriers began to roll the papers and place them in polymeric bags. This was satisfactory for some time, and did prevent or at least minimize the number of papers which were completely unreadable and had to be replaced. Still, this system proved to be quite an improvement over unprotected papers.
More recently, however, newspaper companies have been replacing news carriers who had walking or bike routes with larger routes which are serviced by older persons. These routes are referred to as "vehicle routes." The difference between these routes and the smaller routes customarily handled by boys on foot or on bikes is the size of the route. Such vehicle routes have several hundred papers; in fact, it is customary for the delivery persons of vehicle routes to completely fill their car with newspapers in the flat or unfolded condition. It is impossible to prefold or prebag all of the papers because they are too bulky and take up too much room. Thus, large prefolding and bagging machines which are available at some newspaper offices are not compatible with such a system because the delivery person simply cannot carry all of the folded and bagged papers in his or her automobile.
Thus, it has become customary for the delivery person to fill his car with unfolded papers and fold papers while the vehicle is moving from house to house in order to keep a supply of papers on the floor of the front seat on the passenger side. In fair weather, the papers are secured in the folded position with a rubber band. However, in inclement or threatening weather, the newspapers must be folded and placed in a polymeric bag. The bag is open at one end and sometimes the paper slides out of the bag, or moisture gets in the bag and the paper becomes wet. In any event, the procedure for folding and bagging papers while driving is extremely dangerous and newspaper companies would 1ike to discourage such practices.
It is in this environment that the inventors of the present invention saw a need for a portable folding and bagging apparatus that could be positioned on the front seat beside the driver on or in front of the passenger side. It was envisioned that with such an apparatus the delivery person could merely feed newspapers into the apparatus where they would be folded and bagged mechanically and dropped onto the floor of the front seat in front of the passenger side. In order to power such a machine it was determined that the apparatus would preferably be operated from a 12 volt battery source so that the device could be connected to the cigarette lighter, much in the manner of small vacuums, television, electric razors, and other appliances which are now utilized with automobiles. Since the apparatus was to be operated from a 12 volt source, it would have to be compact, simply operated, not requiring large voltage sources.
Therefore, in general, the method and apparatus of the present invention is directed to a system whereby there is provided a housing with top, bottom, and side walls. An inlet is positioned adjacent the top portion of the housing and there is provided an outlet in the bottom wall. The housing is positioned in the front portion of the vehicle between the edge of the front seat and the dash so that the outlet from the housing directs folded and bagged newspapers onto the floor on the passenger side thereof. Within the housing there is a mechanism for folding the newspaper within a polymeric film pouch, clamping the edges of the pouch together, heat sealing the edges, and severing the bagged newspaper from the remainder of the polymeric film.
More particularly, the apparatus includes opposed supply rolls carrying a continuous length of heat-sealable polymeric film therebetween; the rolls being spaced apart and wider than the newspapers or other paper articles to be wrapped. The continuous length of film extends from one supply roll, around the outside of an idler roll, along a generally horizontal feed path in upper portion of the housing, around the outside of the other idler roll, and back around the other supply roll. The horizontal portion of the feed path forms a folding station. A vertically reciprocal folder bar extends transversely across and above the length of film at a point substantially centrally located at the folding station. The folder bar is movable between an upper position above the continuous length of film and a lower position below the continuous length of film where there is formed a pouch of film having open sides and top and surrounding a folded newspaper.
A pair of spaced opposed sealing frames having side and top members are pivotally mounted at the lower end of the side members and movable, responsive to the upward movement of the folder bar, between an open position and a closed, clamping position in sealing engagement with the side and top marginal portions of the film. A drive motor is activated once the newspaper reaches the folding station to begin the downward, folding movement of the folder bar, at the completion of which the motor is reversed to drive the folder bar upwardly. When the folder bar reaches its uppermost position the sealing operation begins.
The aforesaid sealing frames are heated electrically or the like. A heated cutting blade extends across the top member of the frame intermediate the upper and lower edges thereof for effecting a severance of the heated film above the newspaper, and simultaneously reforming the continuous length of film for the next operation. Upon completion of the serving operation the folded, bagged newspaper falls out the bottom of the apparatus, and the continuous film is reformed at the folding station ready for the receipt of another paper. The entire operation takes merely a matter of 5-10 seconds.
So arranged, the delivery person merely keeps a stack of unfolded papers on the front seat adjacent the folding and bagging apparatus. Newspapers can be fed into the apparatus and retrieved from the floor beneath the apparatus without requiring distraction of the driver from the road ahead.
The apparatus is simplified by virtue of there being a single motor operated from a 12 volt DC source. The movement of the folder bar causes the simultaneous folding of the newspaper about a longitudinal axis and a folding of the film in surrounding relation thereto. The return upward movement of the folder bar then activates a cam system which urges the normally open sealing frames into closed, clamping relationship. The slight return of the folder bar from its uppermost position then releases the clamping frames so that the folded, bagged newspaper is free to fall through the exit slot.
To the knowledge of the applicant, there are no devices in the prior art which are sufficiently simple and compact as to be utilized in the environment for which the present invention is envisioned. Examples of large apparatuses which may be utilized as part of the newspaper manufacturing process in the newspaper plant are illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,060,658 to Horsting, 4,021,993 to Widmer; 3,161,000 to Hannon et al.; and 4,189,134 to Mills et al. These devices are all relatively large, complicated, and expensive. Another example of a device for folding and bagging a paper-like product is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,439,469 to Van Mil, Jr.; however, this is not a newspaper or similar article, and the components and operative process is substantially different.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a relatively simple, compact, and inexpensive folding and bagging system for newspapers and like articles, which may be implemented by the newspaper carrier with the apparatus placed on the automobile seat beside him.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a device of the type described which is mechanically operated and powered by a 12 volt battery source so that it may be activated by electrically connecting the apparatus to the cigarette lighter of a vehicle.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus of the type described in which all internal movements are initiated by a single 12 volt drive mechanism, the remainder of the mechanical operation of the device being set in motion and operated by movement of a folder bar.